Without a tripod, though, you can often cobble together some books to prop up the camera, and then use the self-timer so you can hit the shutter button, step back, and then the camera will give you a nice long exposure without that first vibration of you pushing the button.

And you don't really need a macro lens for most photos of teawares, at least not for the entire piece at one view. It's needed when you want to get closer and closer like this....

As some may have read in the "your first chawan" thread - my camera died.It was my Canon S2IS, and the shutter has become stuck.So, I went to get a new camera.I did look at the EOS Rebel T1i, but I must say that the size of the thing intimidated me. Seemed like too much camera for me.So, I ended up with a new Canon Powershot SX30 IS.I think it's probably the latest model of the same camera.

Here's a trick that helps with natural light shots. Natural light is directional, even when you have a great light source, like bright indirect light coming in through a big window. You will still have one bright side, and one shadow side.

Try this: using an ordinary piece of white printer paper, angle the paper around and facing the shadowed side to bounce some of the light back into the shadows. It will brighten things up, is cheap and easy.

My paper here peeking out of the left side of the image, you can see that it is curved to reflect back into the contour of the teapot:

The original setup with no white paper "reflector" was very dark on the shadowed left side.

If I really wanted to get fancy, I could make little paper go-betweens to try and shield the light from making the little "hotspots" that you can see just to the left of the handle. I've seen people put little paper tabs on kebab skewers, and position them (like lincoln logs) until they cover the right spot. But this is fancier than I want to get for a quick shot.

First, set up your teaware, carefully positioning it against the background, considering how the lines and tones of the surroundings play against the teawares, avoiding distracting background features

set up the lighting, and then remove the cat who has wandered into your frame

but be sure to handle this gently so no teaware is knocked over or worse, off the shooting surface. Then adjust the composition a little more, checking the focus is on the desired feature of the teaware

remove the cat

one more time, adjust the aperture to give the desired depth of field, take your shot